Rebirth of the French Colony 141 
     
    
   
   
    
     from Pisquid to ask leave to return to their old 
     
     homes, and this request was granted. 
     
    

    
     But, if the migration to Isle Saint Jean became 
     
     less precipitate in 1751 and was practically negligi- 
     
     ble in 1752, the confusion at Port La Joye was not 
     
     less great. Apart from the problem of feeding so 
     
     many new settlers, with the supply uncertain at 
     
     Louisburg and Quebec, there was infinite wrangling 
     
     as to where the Acadians should settle and what they 
     
     should do. In the confusion old and new habitans 
     
     were involved. There was no capable land surveyor 
     
     in the colony and none to be had from Ile Royale. 
     
     Those who had been available hitherto were said to 
     
     know either too much or too little. The new inhabit- 
     
     ants were in a ferment. The old inhabitants feared 
     
     for title to the lands already possessed by them and 
     
     wanted sufficient land near by for natural expansion. 
     
     Hitherto in many cases settlers had squatted on cer- 
     
     tain areas relying on a verbal title from the Lieu- 
     
     tenant de Roi and Sub-delegate of the Intendant. 
     
    

    
     Practically every letter from de Bonnaventure 
     
     contains an appeal for a land surveyor for reinforce- 
     
     ment in the administration of justice and distribu- 
     
     tion of provisions, and for a more steady supply of 
     
     food and settlers’ effects. One settler wants to erect 
     
     a flour mill, another a sawmill, some of the soldiers 
     
     want to marry and others are afflicted with scurvy. 
     
     All settlers and soldiers alike are given to complaint 
     
     and criticism of the overworked and disheartened 
     
     M. Degoutin, who is out in his accounts and in bad 
     
     health to boot. De Bonnaventure himself needs a holi-